If you haven’t been around here long, you still probably know how amazing Grace is. She’s a young, teenaged writer with a blog (or two), newsletter, patreon, editing business, book cover business, and more than one book out on the market for y’all to snatch up. (Search “Grace Johnson” in Amazon and you’ll see what I mean. XD) This girl is a writing machine, and I am HONORED to have here here on SOTP. So! For all you young writers out there wondering if this crazy dream is even possible, let me present someone who says it is: Grace Johnson! 🙂
The Interview
Hi Grace! Thanks so so so much for agreeing to do this interview. Let’s kick things off by getting to know you a bit better. 😉 Tell us a bit about yourself – your name, what genre you like to read/write, and what your garden looks like – or would look like, if you had one. 😛
Righto, luv! My name is Grace A. Johnson (my friends call me Gracie…and if you’re reading this, you’re officially my friend now :D), and I’m a teenager (born in 2005, in case you’re wondering; I’ll let you do the math), a homeschooled junior/dual-enrolled marketing student, and a daughter of Almighty God!
Oh, yeah, and I wrote a couple books and published them. XD I’ve been reading predominantly Christian historical romance (with a smattering of fantasy and contemporary in there, too) since I was about ten or eleven years old, so naturally that’s what I write as well! I’m currently writing the Daughters of the Seven Seas series, which is (you guessed it) about female pirate captain Rina Blackstone and all the mayhem that ensues when she finds God and true love! (Dude…I’mma hafta use that description again. That was pretty good. XD)
I’ve also written a few short stories–some fantasy, some contemporary, some historical–and a thirty-day devotional that will be releasing this spring!
As for my garden…good question! I actually had a garden back in 2020, with basically every kind of pepper known to man (literally had five different kinds of bell peppers…one of which was the chocolate bell…which unfortunately is not actually chocolate), two (or three; I can’t remember) types of tomatoes, and spaghetti squash, which was absolutely divine!
I don’t really have the time for all that right now, but I’ve always wanted a little herb garden, like in a window box in the kitchen! Or a grove of fruit trees (fresh Georgia peaches, anyone?) or some lovely edible flowers like violets and hibiscus!
Mm, yes, peaches!! XD Why did you go into writing? Do you plan for it to be a hobby, a career, or something else?
Originally, I went into writing because I had stories that I needed to get out of my head and onto paper (which is literally what every author says XD). At this time (I was ten or eleven), it was a hobby…but when I was twelve and my local dance studio closed, I wrote because I wasn’t taking ballet anymore. Sounds sad, but in actuality I could have (and tried to) continued dancing, but I dunno…writing just drew me in like nothing else, and it was a couple months later that I started writing my debut novel, Held Captive! Now, I write both as a career and a ministry (and for my sanity XD)!
Girl, we all need help with our sanity. XD
You have done a lot of work in the author world over the past several years: from publishing several novellas (Daylight being the most recent, if I’m not mistaken), to working on your pirate romance series, Daughters of the Seven Seas, to frequently blogging on two or three different sites. How do you keep up with all of that?
Beats me!
No, seriously. I get asked that all the time, and I legit have no idea. I can only say that God Himself has enabled me to accomplish all this, giving me the time, energy, resources, and support (typically from my fantabulous friends like you, Joelle!) I need to pursue His calling on my life!
That said, I have gotten behind on several of these things…for example, it took me two and a half years to write my upcoming novel, Bound and Determined, in part because of all the other projects I was working on! (And because it’s 210k words.)
That is a BIG book. 😛 What was your inspiration for Daughters of the Seven Seas?
Dora, Veggietales, and Shakespeare’s death.
Lemme rewind for a minute there, eh?
To be entirely honest, I have no idea where the idea came from, because it seriously was out of the blue that I decided to write a pirate story. Of course, I only got so far as a really crappy outline, and the story was based on–you guessed it–Dora the Explorer (the episode with the pirate piggies) and Veggietales’ The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. And, of course, I wanted to set the story in a year when Shakespeare wasn’t alive.
From there, not much came of the idea until I revamped it entirely and started my first draft sometime in late 2017. Where I got the premise of that–a story I called “The Lady Pirate”–I don’t know either! It’s technically the pirate version of Rapunzel…but I didn’t have any clue of that at all when I began writing!
So, again, this story…this whole series…was inspired by God, and He’s continuing to help me write it even now!
A pirate Rapunzel?!?! Ooh, I never thought of it like that. XD Ok, don’t hate me for this, but do you have a favorite character? Why or why not?
HOW DARE YOU?!
*clears throat* Nah, it’s fine. I love this question, even if it’s hard to answer.
The worst part of it is that I have many favorites, but most of them haven’t (and might never) seen the light of day quite yet, so they don’t really count.
Anyway…of course, one of my most favorites is Rina. I just…I love her so much. She’s everything I’m not, and yet she’s the worst parts of me and the parts I aspire to become. (That makes no sense, but whatever.) Plus she. is. HIGH-LAIR-EE-US. Somehow, this girl gained a Jack Sparrow-esque sense of humor that I certainly don’t have. And she’s such fun to write! (Mainly because she rambles and her minds wanders just like mind! XD)
Then there’s Crimson, who I adore as well for her personality, her arc, her character in general, her voice (which was so easy to write once I figured out what it was XD)! And Elliot, who is by far the easiest and simplest character I’ve ever written. And Keaton, because he’s kinda the guy version of me. And Julius and Scarlette because they crack. me. up. I have the most fun with them.
Basically, I love them all for various reasons…except for Xavier. He and I have a very tense love-hate relationship, which is why I simply cannot wait to rewrite Held Captive and polish his character up!
*look* Xavier is AMAZING, Grace. Don’t change him too much. 😛 What is something you’re passionate to see in today’s literature?
Joelle…
You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, do you?
No, you probably do, but you don’t care about the fact that I’m about to go on a three-year-long rant.
*takes a deep breath*
I’ll try and hold myself in check, but y’all. I am passionate about SO. MANY. THINGS in modern literature–especially Christian literature! (Hence why I have, like, three blogs just so I can rant about it all in three separate places…not counting my newsletter and social media.)
First, I’m passionate about Godly romance. Once upon a time, romance wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, I’ve always adored romance and I’ve always written it and I’ve (almost) always read it. But I wasn’t so passionate about it or…involved? (I guess that’s the word) in it as I am now.
Lately, God has just been laying the importance of romance on my heart–not just in fiction but in life as well. So many people have a tainted view of love, romance, marriage, and sex because of the secular culture–and that translates either into a complete disregard for God’s precepts and design and the beauty of both, or into an aversion to all things love and romance! And this is even within the Christian community!
So naturally, I feel called to write romances that reflect the true love God created and ordained…the love He gives to us through His Son and through the holy ordinance of marriage!
I’m also super passionate about Christian fiction in general (again, something that’s more recent due to God’s prodding)! I even started a whole blog all about it called Book Nations that helps equip writers to write for Christ and promotes Christian fiction, because unfortunately, most Christian writers these days are too afraid (or just don’t care) to be bold about their faith! They think even mentioning God will have them labeled “preachy” (a term that everyone misdefines…which is another rant I’d like to go on XD); that they can’t reach people for God unless they’re as subtle and vague as possible about Christianity; and that they’re free whatever and however they want, that Jesus can be included if/when they think He should.
But here’s the thing. Writers are called to write and given that desire and ability by God, for His purpose. Just like pastors are called to preach. Can a pastor just leave out Jesus for a few sermons if he feels like it? Can a preacher be as vague about God as possible so that he can get more attendees (and still call himself a preacher by biblical standards)? Does mentioning God automatically constitute as a sermon?
I don’t think so.
Writers are the same. If you are a Christian person…if you love God and are called according to His purpose, then whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or write or sing, DO IT ALL FOR THE GLORY OF THE LORD. The Lord doesn’t get no glory if you don’t even mention Him, if you portray Him as a floating sky elf no one knows about, if you water His Word down to fit “your truth”! The Lord only gets the glory when you BOLDLY PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL, which WE ARE CALLED TO DO.
When we don’t do what God tells us to do, we disobey God. Which is a sin.
(So I could argue that anyone who doesn’t say anything about God, who doesn’t witness, who doesn’t share their faith, is sinning and quite willingly living in it. And y’know what John says about people who live in sin…they don’t belong to God [1 John 3:10]. But we’ll argue that another day.)
As you could likely tell, I’m quite fired up about that.
Wow. That’s brilliant. And the floating sky elf part is absolutely hilarious. xDDD Ahem. Stay on track, Joelle. Who is your target audience, and why?
Anyone who can handle the truth.
To get more specific, I write for older teens and adults. Which is weird, I know, because I was twelve/thirteen when I wrote my first book, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend my books for tweens), because of the hardcore messages I give and the tough subjects I tackle. Even though I don’t think most tweens would enjoy or understand my books, I know I did at that age, and I know that people of all ages need to know the truth. Especially considering three-year-olds are being pumped full of LGBT propaganda and kindergartners are given condoms at school…I think a ten-year-old learning about the importance of purity, Godly relationships, and living according to God’s Word is rather fitting, don’t you?
From a more genre-oriented point-of-view, my target audience is females ages sixteen and older who enjoy Christian fiction, romance, historical fiction, and fantasy.
*fervent nod-nodding* What is the hardest part of writing, and how do you conquer that?
Actually writing.
All right, not really. For me, writing is enjoyable and sometimes even relaxing…it’s getting to that point that’s so difficult! Time management is something I’m still learning (as well as how to say no XD), and it really just takes me making time, losing gobs amount of sleep, and being aware of how I operate (i.e., I feel more accomplished when I finish one big project instead of twenty insignificant ones in the same amount of time) to conquer that.
Craft-wise, I don’t draft or plot in a coherent manner (oh, I plot…you just can’t necessarily tell XD), so I guess that could use some work. And editing/handling criticism is always high on my list to work on. And sometimes I feel like my prose needs work…but that may be because I’m stuck writing from the perspective of a bunch of crazy pirates. (Trust me, I can’t wax poetic when I’m in the middle of an action-packed cannon duel to the death.)
Oof, yeah. I’m sure Rina and Crimson make it a bit difficult to be poetically eloquent. 😛 And last but not least, if you were on your deathbed and you could only impart one bit of wisdom to a budding author before you died, what would it be?
Dang, girl. We’re goin’ deep. To be honest, y’all know that as much as I’d like to give this perfect tip to being the best writer ever, I can’t. I would if I knew such a thing even existed, of course, but I don’t think it does.
The closest I can get is reminding authors to pray. So many writers see writing as just a hobby…just a side business…just stringing words together on a page. BUT Y’ALL. Writing is so. much. more.
Next to mothers, writers are some of the most important people on the planet. The men God called to write the Bible enabled us to read His Word. The men and women who report news (whether fake news or real news) influence how everyone sees the world. Fighting doesn’t end wars; written treaties do (hence why the pen is mightier than the sword). Nations are built and destroyed, kings rise and fall, governments crumble or are strengthened by mere words.
So don’t you ever, not even for a second, think that writing is nothing. That is just for fun, just a money-maker, just a simple click on the keyboard. Writing is the key…words are the key…books are the key…reading is the key to unlocking so much.
So when God calls you to write, DON’T TAKE IT LIGHTLY. And whatever you do, DON’T LEAVE HIM OUT. Invite Him to write through you, to give you fresh ideas and motivation, to use your words to sustain nations, keep peace, and give life. Pray your heart out. Seek God’s will. Read His Word–the ultimate guidebook to writing, for it is the greatest, most popular, most translated, most read, most desired, most dangerous, most fought-for, most cried-over, most life-changing book ever written.
I doubt I could say all that in my final breath…but I betcha I could write it down for ya. 😉 And that’s truly the best piece of advice I could give anyone, not just writers.
That is so profound, Grace. EVERYONE LISTEN UP AND READ THAT LAST BIT EVEN IF YOU SKIMMED THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW!!!! XD Thanks so much for joining us, Grace, and answering my sometimes-quite-odd questions. ;P Truly a pleasure!
Thank you SO MUCH for having me, Joelle! I LOVED answering your fantastic questions!!! <333
Wrap Up
Y’all, if I had recording equipment, I’d almost want to start a podcast now just to interview more amazing authors like Grace and get them a bit of the spotlight they deserve. 😛 But! Thank you so much for tuning in, guys! What was your favorite part of this interview? Did you learn anything? Which question was your favorite? Are you going to answer any of them in the comments? (Please do. XD)
Until next time!
Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!
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